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MILAN—The Italian menswear mogul Gildo Zegna sits in his Milan office waxing, not quite poetically, about the intimacy of cashmere, the raw material that helped transform his family-run business into a global goliath.

In an age of technology, he says, “it’s important to remember the feeling of the clothes, the smell of cashmere.” And here, he lifts a swatch of the lush fabric to his nose and inhales. “What we do is authentic; it’s history.”

Anyone who has made even a cursory pass through the menswear departments of stores such as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue has seen the label Ermenegildo Zegna. The suits, with their lean — but not tight — Italian cut, do not have the celebrity aura of such brands as Versace and Gucci or the high-wattage sex appeal of Tom Ford. But Ermenegildo Zegna does business with all those labels because before the company made suits, it was known for its fine fabrics.

“We are a discreet brand,” Zegna says, “one that doesn’t make a lot of noise.”

Usually, that philosophy holds true. But recently, the company has been making quite a big commotion. This year marks its 100th anniversary. With $1.2 billion (U.S.) in revenue in 2009, Ermenegildo Zegna is a powerhouse of a family-run company.

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So when it recently showed its spring collections on the runway in Milan, a host of family members came on stage to take bows. The company has mounted an exhibition of its history, also in Milan. And Gildo Zegna, the company’s chief executive, has come forth to brag. The brand weathered the recession despite sales in the U.S. plummeting by 30 to 50 per cent. He’s expecting overall growth for 2010 in the neighbourhood of 5 per cent.

“Thank God the centennial fell this year and not in 2009,” Zegna says with a smile. He wanted the company to have something to celebrate, beyond its longevity.

The brand was founded by his grandfather — that would be the company’s and his namesake, Ermenegildo — with the goal of producing world-class fabric. Over the generations, it expanded to include tailored attire, sportswear and accessories. It’s headquartered in a vast, multi-story loft just outside central Milan. And it remains wholly committed to menswear — a rarity in the world of high-end fashion where so many brands succumb to the sizzle and fickle nature of the womenswear market.

For Zegna, the most significant changes in the label’s approach to men’s attire has been in sportswear. Colour trends trickle over from the womenswear shows and into the men’s designs. “If we only offered men grey and blue suits, how can you be motivated?” Zegna asks.

While sportswear now accounts for half the company’s business, its reputation is built on tailoring — on suits. To mark the centennial, Zegna re-created one of the original fabrics from 1910 — albeit at a much lighter weight. It is traditional menswear suiting with a subtle weave in a reserved shade of charcoal. The reissue doesn’t have all the technical bells and whistles that now mark fabrics — the ability to wick away perspiration or to create a temperature-controlled personal environment. But it looks as right for the times as if it had been invented in 2010.

Such is the nature of menswear. Even now, in this post-metrosexual, post-Thom Browne shrunken trousers universe, menswear — the kind aimed at grown-ups and not man-boys — continues to evolve slowly and cautiously and in ways that are mostly hidden. Menswear, particularly Zegna’s, adheres to the auto-buying theory of fashion.

“If you buy a car of a certain level, the technology is incredible,” Zegna says. “From the outside, it looks the same as any other car, but the driver knows what is inside.”

Because men’s style has always been a matter of subtle shifts, any significant deviation from the standard rules of dress — either in colour, cut or silhouette — can quickly leave a man looking and feeling as though he were wearing a costume. God bless the menswear designers who try to entice gentlemen with sequined jackets, but that’s stagecraft, wishful thinking. (But keep at it, fellas, maybe someday . . .)

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